Government Regulation

April 19, 2020

Your Weekend Golf Update

Here’s a state-by-state breakdown of where golf’s allowed and where it isn’t

State-wide stay-home executive orders in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic might have you confused about whether golf is or isn’t allowed where you live or even near where you live. Enter the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America with a state-by-state list of where it’s still OK to play. As this list is updated on a daily basis, we will monitor it and update our list below with any changes on a daily basis. There have been more than a dozen changes or modifications in the last few days alone.

The GCSAA has been monitoring the shifting directives from states on whether golf courses should be characterized as non-essential businesses or as an acceptable outdoor activity with proper social distancing. Officials and state golf associations have even had to check whether courses can be maintained when there is a public ban on golf. It’s not an insignificant part of the issue, especially for many courses right at the start of the growing season. A GCSAA letter being sent to state leaders across the country calls out specifically the challenges with leaving a closed golf course without regular maintenance.

“Spring is a critical time for turfgrass,” the letter reads. “If turfgrass is lost, many courses may face permanent closure. Turfgrass cannot be neglected for extended periods of time.” The letter also cites that the decline of course maintenance could lead to vandalism and “the landscape and property of a golf course could become compromised, damaged or unsafe.” The letter indicates that proper maintenance also reduces the threat of “disease carrying pests, including ticks and mosquitoes.”

Currently, the language in most executive orders from state governors’ offices is rarely specific to golf, and only after direct contact have states often clarified the situation. But there continues to be movement toward opening up golf again in states that have banned. For now, 14 states have essentially banned golf being played by classifying golf courses as “non-essential businesses” with no projected re-opening date (California, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Pennsylvania, Vermont and Washington). That number is lower than it was last week, as Wisconsin has decided to allow courses to re-open under social distancing guidelines April 24, and Minnesota’s governor opened up golf courses along with certain other recreational activities beginning today after his mid-day announcement on April 17. According to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, once the order was revised to allow public golf courses to open, one course booked 213 golfers in 43 minutes over the lunch hour.

Meanwhile, a change in New York, which itself has had more coronavirus cases than any country in the world outside of the U.S., the governor’s executive order language now provides an opening for golf courses with “private operators” to permit individuals access to the property so long as there are no gatherings of any kind and appropriate social distancing of six feet between individuals is strictly abided.” The order still restricts golf courses as non-essential businesses and prevents them from allowing employees “working on-premise,” aside from maintenance and security.

In some cases, courses, clubs or resorts (such as Bandon Dunes in Oregon which is closed through April 30, for the moment) have opted to pause operations even if their states haven’t mandated it. As David Phipps, the GCSAA’s Northwest field staff representative, put it, “It’s been a rollercoaster ride trying to keep track of all these executive orders across my region.” Recognize, as well, that several states are requiring non-residents to self-quarantine for a stretch of time (typically 14 days) upon arrival or even disallowing short-term rentals (like a condo for a golf trip, for example), so heading across state lines from a no-play state to an open-play state might not always work out the way you planned.

Here’s thee current state-by-state assessment, from GCSAA research and other reports (Just a reminder that this listing is very fluid and is in no way a legally binding document. It’s best to check with your local and state authorities on the most current situation, and your local course specifically, as county or city rules may supersede any state order) :

ALABAMA
Governor Directive: Is golf open for play?: Yes
Governor Directive: Is golf course maintenance allowed?: Yes

ALASKA
Golf open for play?: Pending
Course maintenance allowed?: Pending

ARIZONA
Golf open for play?: Yes
Course maintenance allowed?: Yes

ARKANSAS
Golf open for play?: Yes
Course maintenance allowed?: Yes

CALIFORNIA
Golf open for play?: No (But some areas open for play) Course maintenance allowed?: Yes

COLORADO
Golf open for play?: Yes (County health departments determine whether golf can be played)
Course maintenance allowed?: Yes

CONNECTICUT
Golf open for play?: Yes
Course maintenance allowed?: Yes

DELAWARE
Golf open for play?: Yes
Course maintenance allowed?: Yes

FLORIDA
Golf open for play?: Yes (Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties preventing play)
Course maintenance allowed?: Yes

GEORGIA
Golf open for play?: Yes (stay-at-home orders expected for Savannah and parts of Atlanta)
Course maintenance allowed?: Yes

HAWAII
Golf open for play?: Yes (Oahu and Maui closed to play; voluntary closures)
Course maintenance allowed?: Yes

IDAHO
Golf open for play?: Yes
Course maintenance allowed?: Yes

ILLINOIS
Golf open for play?: No
Course maintenance allowed?: Yes

INDIANA
Golf open for play?: Yes (Howard County bans play)
Course maintenance allowed?: Yes

IOWA
Golf open for play?: Yes
Course maintenance allowed?: Yes

KANSAS
Golf open for play?: Yes (some cities preventing play)
Course maintenance allowed?: Yes

KENTUCKY
Golf open for play?: Yes (some municipalities closing courses)
Course maintenance allowed?: Yes

LOUISIANA
Golf open for play?: Yes
Course maintenance allowed?: Yes

MAINE
Golf open for play?: No
Course maintenance allowed?: Yes

MARYLAND
Golf open for play?: No
Course maintenance allowed?: Yes

MASSACHUSETTS
Golf open for play?: No
Course maintenance allowed?: Yes (town boards may restrict maintenance)

MICHIGAN
Golf open for play?: No
Course maintenance allowed?: Pending (basic maintenance being performed, waiting for clarification)

MINNESOTA
Golf open for play?: Yes
Course maintenance allowed?: Pending

MISSISSIPPI
Golf open for play?: Yes
Course maintenance allowed?: Yes

MISSOURI
Golf open for play?: Yes (check with local authorities)
Course maintenance allowed?: Yes

MONTANA
Golf open for play?: Yes (some courses closing)
Course maintenance allowed?: Yes

NEBRASKA
Golf open for play?: Yes
Course maintenance allowed?: Yes

NEVADA
Golf open for play?: No Course maintenance allowed?: Yes

NEW HAMPSHIRE
Golf open for play?: No
Course maintenance allowed?: Yes

NEW JERSEY
Golf open for play?: No
Course maintenance allowed?: Yes

NEW MEXICO
Golf open for play?: No
Course maintenance allowed?: Pending

NEW YORK
Golf open for play?: No (but play may be allowed by private operators; no employees other than maintenance on site)
Course maintenance allowed?: Yes

NORTH CAROLINA
Golf open for play?: Yes (consult local authorities for restrictions)
Course maintenance allowed?: Yes

NORTH DAKOTA
Golf open for play?: Yes
Course maintenance allowed?: Yes

OHIO
Golf open for play?: Yes (consult local health department as interpretations of executive order vary)
Course maintenance allowed?: Yes

OKLAHOMA
Golf open for play?: Yes
Course maintenance allowed?: Yes

OREGON
Golf open for play?: Yes (voluntary closures, including Bandon Dunes)
Course maintenance allowed?: Yes

PENNSYLVANIA
Golf open for play?: No
Course maintenance allowed?: Yes

RHODE ISLAND
Golf open for play?: Yes
Course maintenance allowed?: Yes

SOUTH CAROLINA
Golf open for play?: Yes (Myrtle Beach is open for residents only)
Course maintenance allowed?: Yes

SOUTH DAKOTA
Golf open for play?: Yes
Course maintenance allowed?: Yes

TENNESSEE
Golf open for play?: Yes (state park courses closing; Shelby and Sevierville County courses closed)
Course maintenance allowed?: Yes

TEXAS
Golf open for play?: Yes (counties may restrict play)
Course maintenance allowed?: Yes

UTAH
Golf open for play?: Yes (cities may restrict play)
Course maintenance allowed?: Yes

VERMONT
Golf open for play?: No
Course maintenance allowed?: Pending

VIRGINIA
Golf open for play?: Yes
Course maintenance allowed?: Yes

WASHINGTON
Golf open for play?: No
Course maintenance allowed?: Yes

WEST VIRGINIA
Golf open for play?: Yes
Course maintenance allowed?: Yes

WISCONSIN
Golf open for play?: No (but courses to open April 24) Course maintenance allowed?: Yes

WYOMING
Golf open for play?: Yes
Course maintenance allowed?: Yes


GOLF + THE CORONAVIRUS: Is playing golf safe during the crisis? | How clubs/courses are adjusting | State-by-state breakdown of where golf is allowed and where it isn’t | Golf’s governing bodies release a new—and tentative—schedule | Complete list of pro/amateur tournaments canceled or postponed | How meditation can help your coronavirus anxiety | In praise of playing golf alone | 10 timely—and timeless—golf books to take your mind off the real world

https://www.golfdigest.com/story/heres-a-state-by-state-breakdown-of-where-golfs-allowed-and-where-it-isnt?mbid=social_twitter

April 19, 2020

Your Weekend Golf Update

Here’s a state-by-state breakdown of where golf’s allowed and where it isn’t

State-wide stay-home executive orders in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic might have you confused about whether golf is or isn’t allowed where you live or even near where you live. Enter the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America with a state-by-state list of where it’s still OK to play. As this list is updated on a daily basis, we will monitor it and update our list below with any changes on a daily basis. There have been more than a dozen changes or modifications in the last few days alone.

The GCSAA has been monitoring the shifting directives from states on whether golf courses should be characterized as non-essential businesses or as an acceptable outdoor activity with proper social distancing. Officials and state golf associations have even had to check whether courses can be maintained when there is a public ban on golf. It’s not an insignificant part of the issue, especially for many courses right at the start of the growing season. A GCSAA letter being sent to state leaders across the country calls out specifically the challenges with leaving a closed golf course without regular maintenance.

“Spring is a critical time for turfgrass,” the letter reads. “If turfgrass is lost, many courses may face permanent closure. Turfgrass cannot be neglected for extended periods of time.” The letter also cites that the decline of course maintenance could lead to vandalism and “the landscape and property of a golf course could become compromised, damaged or unsafe.” The letter indicates that proper maintenance also reduces the threat of “disease carrying pests, including ticks and mosquitoes.”

Currently, the language in most executive orders from state governors’ offices is rarely specific to golf, and only after direct contact have states often clarified the situation. But there continues to be movement toward opening up golf again in states that have banned. For now, 14 states have essentially banned golf being played by classifying golf courses as “non-essential businesses” with no projected re-opening date (California, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Pennsylvania, Vermont and Washington). That number is lower than it was last week, as Wisconsin has decided to allow courses to re-open under social distancing guidelines April 24, and Minnesota’s governor opened up golf courses along with certain other recreational activities beginning today after his mid-day announcement on April 17. According to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, once the order was revised to allow public golf courses to open, one course booked 213 golfers in 43 minutes over the lunch hour.

Meanwhile, a change in New York, which itself has had more coronavirus cases than any country in the world outside of the U.S., the governor’s executive order language now provides an opening for golf courses with “private operators” to permit individuals access to the property so long as there are no gatherings of any kind and appropriate social distancing of six feet between individuals is strictly abided.” The order still restricts golf courses as non-essential businesses and prevents them from allowing employees “working on-premise,” aside from maintenance and security.

In some cases, courses, clubs or resorts (such as Bandon Dunes in Oregon which is closed through April 30, for the moment) have opted to pause operations even if their states haven’t mandated it. As David Phipps, the GCSAA’s Northwest field staff representative, put it, “It’s been a rollercoaster ride trying to keep track of all these executive orders across my region.” Recognize, as well, that several states are requiring non-residents to self-quarantine for a stretch of time (typically 14 days) upon arrival or even disallowing short-term rentals (like a condo for a golf trip, for example), so heading across state lines from a no-play state to an open-play state might not always work out the way you planned.

Here’s thee current state-by-state assessment, from GCSAA research and other reports (Just a reminder that this listing is very fluid and is in no way a legally binding document. It’s best to check with your local and state authorities on the most current situation, and your local course specifically, as county or city rules may supersede any state order) :

ALABAMA
Governor Directive: Is golf open for play?: Yes
Governor Directive: Is golf course maintenance allowed?: Yes

ALASKA
Golf open for play?: Pending
Course maintenance allowed?: Pending

ARIZONA
Golf open for play?: Yes
Course maintenance allowed?: Yes

ARKANSAS
Golf open for play?: Yes
Course maintenance allowed?: Yes

CALIFORNIA
Golf open for play?: No (But some areas open for play) Course maintenance allowed?: Yes

COLORADO
Golf open for play?: Yes (County health departments determine whether golf can be played)
Course maintenance allowed?: Yes

CONNECTICUT
Golf open for play?: Yes
Course maintenance allowed?: Yes

DELAWARE
Golf open for play?: Yes
Course maintenance allowed?: Yes

FLORIDA
Golf open for play?: Yes (Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties preventing play)
Course maintenance allowed?: Yes

GEORGIA
Golf open for play?: Yes (stay-at-home orders expected for Savannah and parts of Atlanta)
Course maintenance allowed?: Yes

HAWAII
Golf open for play?: Yes (Oahu and Maui closed to play; voluntary closures)
Course maintenance allowed?: Yes

IDAHO
Golf open for play?: Yes
Course maintenance allowed?: Yes

ILLINOIS
Golf open for play?: No
Course maintenance allowed?: Yes

INDIANA
Golf open for play?: Yes (Howard County bans play)
Course maintenance allowed?: Yes

IOWA
Golf open for play?: Yes
Course maintenance allowed?: Yes

KANSAS
Golf open for play?: Yes (some cities preventing play)
Course maintenance allowed?: Yes

KENTUCKY
Golf open for play?: Yes (some municipalities closing courses)
Course maintenance allowed?: Yes

LOUISIANA
Golf open for play?: Yes
Course maintenance allowed?: Yes

MAINE
Golf open for play?: No
Course maintenance allowed?: Yes

MARYLAND
Golf open for play?: No
Course maintenance allowed?: Yes

MASSACHUSETTS
Golf open for play?: No
Course maintenance allowed?: Yes (town boards may restrict maintenance)

MICHIGAN
Golf open for play?: No
Course maintenance allowed?: Pending (basic maintenance being performed, waiting for clarification)

MINNESOTA
Golf open for play?: Yes
Course maintenance allowed?: Pending

MISSISSIPPI
Golf open for play?: Yes
Course maintenance allowed?: Yes

MISSOURI
Golf open for play?: Yes (check with local authorities)
Course maintenance allowed?: Yes

MONTANA
Golf open for play?: Yes (some courses closing)
Course maintenance allowed?: Yes

NEBRASKA
Golf open for play?: Yes
Course maintenance allowed?: Yes

NEVADA
Golf open for play?: No Course maintenance allowed?: Yes

NEW HAMPSHIRE
Golf open for play?: No
Course maintenance allowed?: Yes

NEW JERSEY
Golf open for play?: No
Course maintenance allowed?: Yes

NEW MEXICO
Golf open for play?: No
Course maintenance allowed?: Pending

NEW YORK
Golf open for play?: No (but play may be allowed by private operators; no employees other than maintenance on site)
Course maintenance allowed?: Yes

NORTH CAROLINA
Golf open for play?: Yes (consult local authorities for restrictions)
Course maintenance allowed?: Yes

NORTH DAKOTA
Golf open for play?: Yes
Course maintenance allowed?: Yes

OHIO
Golf open for play?: Yes (consult local health department as interpretations of executive order vary)
Course maintenance allowed?: Yes

OKLAHOMA
Golf open for play?: Yes
Course maintenance allowed?: Yes

OREGON
Golf open for play?: Yes (voluntary closures, including Bandon Dunes)
Course maintenance allowed?: Yes

PENNSYLVANIA
Golf open for play?: No
Course maintenance allowed?: Yes

RHODE ISLAND
Golf open for play?: Yes
Course maintenance allowed?: Yes

SOUTH CAROLINA
Golf open for play?: Yes (Myrtle Beach is open for residents only)
Course maintenance allowed?: Yes

SOUTH DAKOTA
Golf open for play?: Yes
Course maintenance allowed?: Yes

TENNESSEE
Golf open for play?: Yes (state park courses closing; Shelby and Sevierville County courses closed)
Course maintenance allowed?: Yes

TEXAS
Golf open for play?: Yes (counties may restrict play)
Course maintenance allowed?: Yes

UTAH
Golf open for play?: Yes (cities may restrict play)
Course maintenance allowed?: Yes

VERMONT
Golf open for play?: No
Course maintenance allowed?: Pending

VIRGINIA
Golf open for play?: Yes
Course maintenance allowed?: Yes

WASHINGTON
Golf open for play?: No
Course maintenance allowed?: Yes

WEST VIRGINIA
Golf open for play?: Yes
Course maintenance allowed?: Yes

WISCONSIN
Golf open for play?: No (but courses to open April 24) Course maintenance allowed?: Yes

WYOMING
Golf open for play?: Yes
Course maintenance allowed?: Yes


GOLF + THE CORONAVIRUS: Is playing golf safe during the crisis? | How clubs/courses are adjusting | State-by-state breakdown of where golf is allowed and where it isn’t | Golf’s governing bodies release a new—and tentative—schedule | Complete list of pro/amateur tournaments canceled or postponed | How meditation can help your coronavirus anxiety | In praise of playing golf alone | 10 timely—and timeless—golf books to take your mind off the real world

https://www.golfdigest.com/story/heres-a-state-by-state-breakdown-of-where-golfs-allowed-and-where-it-isnt?mbid=social_twitter

April 7, 2020

Mattress Wars Part II

Mattress producers, importers tussle over antidumping actions amid COVID-19 emergency

American Mattress Alliance opposes steep tariffs while U.S. producers who filed antidumping petitions say they can handle emergency demand

Photo by Neha Deshmukh on UnsplaWashington – With hospital beds a critical need during the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. mattress industry is at loggerheads.

A group of U.S. mattress manufacturers who recently filed antidumping petitions against Vietnam and six other countries said that action will have no negative impact on the country’s ability to respond to the COVID-19 crisis, according to a report from HTT sister publication Furniture Today.

That group includes Brooklyn Bedding, Corsicana Mattress Company, Elite Comfort Solutions, FXI Inc., Innocor Inc., Kolcraft Enterprises Inc., Leggett & Platt Incorporated and others. The petitioners are suppliers and producers for major mattress brands such as Tempur-Pedic, Serta, Simmons, Sealy, Casper, Purple, Tuft & Needle and others.

However, a new group the American Mattress Alliance – contends the proposed antidumping petitions would impede their response to the crisis. [Editor’s note: The original version of this story included a link that mistakenly identified a number of companies as members of the alliance. Instead, it was a list of companies the group says would be negatively impacted by the antidumping petition, not all of whom are part of the alliance.]

The antidumping petition aims to bar imported mattresses, including medical-grade mattresses under a number of HTS codes including 9404.21, by imposing tariffs up to 1,008%. The seven developing countries targeted by the antidumping petition – Vietnam, Thailand, Turkey, Serbia, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Cambodia – represent 83.3% of all mattress imports in the U.S in 2020.

The International Trade Commission case is slated for a preliminary hearing on April 21.

Pro-tariff petitioner Brooklyn Bedding told Furniture Today that U.S. manufacturers have the scope to supply enough mattress during the pandemic.

“Our operations are also supported by a largely American supply chain, meaning that every mattress we produce also benefits American workers manufacturing textiles, foam, innersprings, machinery, and other components, as well as many transportation and retail workers,” said John Merwin, CEO Brooklyn Bedding. “And give me two hours on the phone and I can find you 50,000 mattresses a day of capacity right now in the United States, and we could start that production tomorrow.”

Members of the anti-tariff alliance argue the petition threatens to choke off supply in the middle of a national emergency.

Sam Malouf, CEO of Malouf, stated, “We were slapped in the face with this petition that is working against us as we race to get beds in hospitals. We don’t need this distraction. We don’t need to be pulled from the front lines. We need this ITC case stalled now. We need to focus on the crisis at hand.”

Mattress producers, importers tussle over antidumping actions amid COVID-19 emergency

April 7, 2020

Mattress Wars Part II

Mattress producers, importers tussle over antidumping actions amid COVID-19 emergency

American Mattress Alliance opposes steep tariffs while U.S. producers who filed antidumping petitions say they can handle emergency demand

Photo by Neha Deshmukh on UnsplaWashington – With hospital beds a critical need during the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. mattress industry is at loggerheads.

A group of U.S. mattress manufacturers who recently filed antidumping petitions against Vietnam and six other countries said that action will have no negative impact on the country’s ability to respond to the COVID-19 crisis, according to a report from HTT sister publication Furniture Today.

That group includes Brooklyn Bedding, Corsicana Mattress Company, Elite Comfort Solutions, FXI Inc., Innocor Inc., Kolcraft Enterprises Inc., Leggett & Platt Incorporated and others. The petitioners are suppliers and producers for major mattress brands such as Tempur-Pedic, Serta, Simmons, Sealy, Casper, Purple, Tuft & Needle and others.

However, a new group the American Mattress Alliance – contends the proposed antidumping petitions would impede their response to the crisis. [Editor’s note: The original version of this story included a link that mistakenly identified a number of companies as members of the alliance. Instead, it was a list of companies the group says would be negatively impacted by the antidumping petition, not all of whom are part of the alliance.]

The antidumping petition aims to bar imported mattresses, including medical-grade mattresses under a number of HTS codes including 9404.21, by imposing tariffs up to 1,008%. The seven developing countries targeted by the antidumping petition – Vietnam, Thailand, Turkey, Serbia, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Cambodia – represent 83.3% of all mattress imports in the U.S in 2020.

The International Trade Commission case is slated for a preliminary hearing on April 21.

Pro-tariff petitioner Brooklyn Bedding told Furniture Today that U.S. manufacturers have the scope to supply enough mattress during the pandemic.

“Our operations are also supported by a largely American supply chain, meaning that every mattress we produce also benefits American workers manufacturing textiles, foam, innersprings, machinery, and other components, as well as many transportation and retail workers,” said John Merwin, CEO Brooklyn Bedding. “And give me two hours on the phone and I can find you 50,000 mattresses a day of capacity right now in the United States, and we could start that production tomorrow.”

Members of the anti-tariff alliance argue the petition threatens to choke off supply in the middle of a national emergency.

Sam Malouf, CEO of Malouf, stated, “We were slapped in the face with this petition that is working against us as we race to get beds in hospitals. We don’t need this distraction. We don’t need to be pulled from the front lines. We need this ITC case stalled now. We need to focus on the crisis at hand.”

Mattress producers, importers tussle over antidumping actions amid COVID-19 emergency

April 7, 2020

Mattress Wars

On March 31, 2020, a group of U.S. mattress producers, Brooklyn Bedding, Corsican Mattress Company, Elite Comfort Solutions, FXI, Inc., Innocor, Inc., Kolcraft Enterprises, Inc., Leggett & Platt, Inc., and union workers (Petitioners) filed antidumping (AD) and countervailing duty (CVD) petitions against Mattresses from Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Serbia, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Under U.S. trade laws, a domestic industry can petition the U.S. Department of Commerce (“DOC”) and U.S. International Trade Commission (“ITC”) to investigate whether the named subject imports are being sold to the United States at less than fair value (“dumping”) or benefit from unfair government subsidies.  For AD/CVD duties to be imposed, the U.S. government must determine not only that dumping or subsidization is occurring, but also that the subject imports are causing “material injury” or “threat of material injury” to the domestic industry.

The U.S. mattress producers recently petitioned and successfully argued for imposing an antidumping order on mattresses from China. This order went into effect in December 2019. Many of the Chinese imported mattresses were coming in through on-line bed-in-a-box suppliers offering ridiculously low prices.  Based on the Petitioners’ petition information on such low price quotes from Chinese suppliers, the DOC calculated AD margins as high as 1,731.75%.  Though it seems commercially impossible for anyone to be selling at a price well over a thousand times below the “fair” value, that AD rate was accepted by DOC as a valid AD margin  using their standard non-market economy calculation methodology for products from China.

Although imports from China decreased after the filing of the first mattresses AD petition, a significant volume of mattresses are still being exported from China. So now Petitioners are seeking additional CVD duties to be imposed to counter the Chinese government subsidies that benefit the exported Chinese mattresses.

Also, after the first AD petition was filed, many of the Chinese producers moved quickly to set up new factories in neighboring countries.  Petitioners therefore have filed these new petitions to try to stop the transplanted Chinese mattress operations that continue to crank out mattresses to the United States.  Most of these other countries (except Vietnam) will be considered market economy countries, which means DOC’s dumping margin calculation theoretically should be lower than the margins calculated for China in the prior case.  Because China is considered a non-market economy (NME), DOC does not accept the Chinese companies’ actual costs, and instead uses surrogate values from some other comparable market economy country.  This NME methodology often leads to very high AD margins for Chinese products.  Because these cases are filed on mattresses mostly from market economy countries, DOC will use the company’s actual costs and prices. So, the dumping margin calculations for this round should (at least theoretically) result in lower margins than those calculated for China. But the producers from these new subject countries will still have to report a ton of sales and cost data and comply with DOC’s detailed and exhaustive information requests. If they cannot satisfy all of DOC’s questionnaire requirements, they will likely be hit with the highest rates alleged in the petitions.

Scope

The petition identifies the merchandise to be covered by this AD/CVD investigation as all types of adult and youth mattresses.  A “mattress” denotes an assembly of materials that at a minimum includes a “core” which provides the main support of the mattress, and may consist of innersprings,  foam, other resilient filling, or a combination of these materials.  Mattresses may also contain “upholstery,” the material between the core and the top/bottom panel of the ticking, and/or “ticking,” the outermost layer of fabric or other material  (e.g., vinyl) that encloses the core and any upholstery, also know as a cover.

See here for the complete proposed scope definition from the petition.

Named Exporters/ Producers

Petitioner included a list of companies that it believes are producers and exporters of the subject merchandise.  See attached mattress exporter/producer list.

Named U.S. Importers

Petitioner included a list of companies it believes are U.S. importers of the subject merchandise.  See attached US Mattress Importer list.

Estimated Schedule of Investigations.

March 31, 2020 – Petitions filed

April 20, 2020 – DOC initiates investigation

April 21, 2020 – ITC Staff Conference

May 15, 2020 – ITC preliminary determination

August 28, 2020 – DOC CVD preliminary determination (assuming extended deadline) (6/24/20 – unextended)

October 27, 2020 – DOC AD preliminary determination (assuming extended deadline) (9/7/20 – unextended)

March 11, 2021 – DOC final determination (extended and AD/CVD aligned)

April 25, 2021 – ITC final determination (extended)

May 2, 2021 – DOC AD/CVD orders issued (extended)

https://www.chinalawblog.com/2020/04/new-ad-cvd-petitions-mattresses-from-cambodia-china-indonesia-malaysia-serbia-thailand-turkey-vietnam.html